USS South Dakota (BB-57)
South-Dakota Class The USS South Dakota (BB-57), also know by her nicknames Battleship "X" and SoDak, was the third ship to be named to the state South-Dakota and was the leading ship of the South-Dakota class. The four ships of the class, the USS South-Dakota (BB-57), Indiana (BB-58), Massachusetts (BB-59) and the Alabama (BB-60) are considered to be the most efficient battleships designed under the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty, having a class that can resist 40.6 cm shellfire without infringing the 35,000-ton treaty limit. But to achieve this request, the designers need to shortening the waterline lenght and saved by this weight. But to support the additional weight of armour there had to be an increase in beam. This caused more drag, and to maintain a speed of 28 knots or 52 km/h, more power was needed. But in the shorter hull, there was now less space for more machinery and the problems were solved eventually by considerable attention paid to redesign of machinery. The result: the South-Dakota class proved to be costeffective. The short hull was manoeuvrable, and protection against shellfire, bombs and torpedoes was as good as any contemporary built to the same nominal limitations. USS South-Dakota (BB-57) The lead-ship USS South-Dakota (BB-57) was laid down in July 1939, launched in June 1941 and commissioned in March 1942. She went straight to the Pacific after her shakedown cruise, but damaged herself by running aground. Repairs were completed in time for the Battle of Santa Cruz, and on 26 October 1942 she claimed to have shot down 26 Japanese aircraft, This phenomenal performance can be explained by the fact that she was the first ship to use the new proximity-fused 127-mm (5-in) shells. The next engagement was the Battle 483 of Guadalcanal on the night of 14/15 November 1942, but this time the South Dakota was less successful. While approaching the Japanese battle line in company with USS Washington she inadvertently blew the ring main and put her entire electrical supply out of action. With no radar, fire control, lighting or navigation aids she blundered towards the Japanese and got within 4570m (5,000 yards), at which range she was soon hit by a number of shells. She was hit by one 356-mm (14- in), 18 203-mm (8-in), six 152-mm (6-in) and one 127-mm (5-in) shells, plus one of unknown calibre, suffering extensive splinter damage which killed 38 men and wounded 60. In 1943 the South Dakota joined the Home Fleet with her sister USSAlahama, but she returned to the Pacific later in that year. With her three sisters she took part in all the major amphibious operations which culminated in the surrender of Japan in August 1945. She was decommissioned in 1947 and stricken in 1962. Weaponry The South-Dakota can be found on the mod with many weapon compositions. Therefore, we made a table below. (S'''1 '''PW = Seat 1 P'rimary '''W'eapon. 'S'1 '''SW = Seat 1 'S'econdary 'W'eapon.) Gallery Composition 1 BF1942 2015-05-29 14-45-32-76.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-45-47-41.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-46-09-41.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-46-17-24.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-46-26-39.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-46-38-78.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-46-57-09.png BF1942 2015-05-29 14-47-12-11.png Gallery Composition 3 BF1942 2015-05-27 19-57-55-69.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-58-06-95.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-58-17-16.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-58-27-69.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-58-34-47.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-58-49-36.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-58-54-91.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-59-01-43.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-59-06-49.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-59-13-17.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-59-20-90.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-59-29-26.png BF1942 2015-05-27 19-59-54-05.png Category:American Equipment Category:Battleships